(More pictures below...)
So, this is what being married is like, is it?
I like it!
I'd like to thank you all for being here at this occasion which is, from my point of view, the single most important day in history. It's special, not just because I've just got married - although that's a pretty good reason - but also because all of the people I care most about in all the world are here, with me, today.
For the past few years, it seems that each year has been the best year of my life - only to be superceded by the next year, which in turn becomes the new best year of my life. And not only is this year, 2002, the best year of my life, but this day, this very day, has now become the best day of my life.
Alex and I have always been very good at causing trouble separately. But now we are going to start causing trouble together!
Traditionally, it is the duty of the bride to thank everyone who traveled a long way to get here. So first of all I'd like to thank our toastmasters, K'Urn - sorry, Captain K'Urn S'Acul, and K'Val Solrac, who have travelled here from Qo'noS.
And I'd like to thank my bridesmaid, Marilyn, and my pageboy, Val, who actually came all the way from San Franciso, just to see me and Alex get wed. Val has been one of my very best friends for nearly a quarter of a century now, and I hope that continues for the next quarter of a century, and beyond.
I'd like to thank my chief bridesmaid, my sister, Wendy, for putting up with me over the years.
And I'd also like to thank my parents, Joyce and Peter. You have always stood by me. I know that you guys have suffered for me over the years. I've never really known how to repay you for that, or how to say thank you for that. But thank you anyway.
I'm sure Anakin and Emrys don't want me to embarrass them by standing here, thanking them for all sorts of things, so I won't. But I have just become their evil stepmother. <sinister laugh>
Which brings me to the guy I fell in love with. This guy here. I can't remember his name, but he's got long hair, he plays a mean bass guitar, and he looks good in tight leather trousers - so that's me happy!
There's one other person I'd like to thank. He can't be here today, because he's dead - which is a pretty good excuse! His name is Dez. For those of you who don't know, Dez was the guy I was going out with before Alex. Dez was a true hero, because he was someone who stood up for his beliefs. And what he believed in was partying and having a good time. And I can say with one hundred per cent certainty that if Dez were alive today, this wedding would have three people in it.
Dez was responsible for a lot of traditions, and here's one I'd like to continue. I'd like to propose a toast. This was a toast originally brought to me by an old friend who's no longer around, and it was continued by myself and Dez, who of course is also no longer around, so now it falls to me. So I would like to continue this tradition, and make it a Ramonsky tradition. Alex, would you join me in this toast, for the first time...
To absent friends...
...bugger 'em!
